Business and Marketing

A search engine made for mobile

Pinterest is introducing a new Guided Search feature that it claims has a leg up on the Bings, Googles, and Yahoos of the world. It requires the downloading of a new app and will be available only in English during the initial rollout.

Emboldened by the 750 million message boards and 30 billion pins it encompasses, Pinterest decided to transform its universe into a self-contained search engine that can let people “explore endless possibilities…even if you don't know exactly what you're looking for,” read a release introducing the service.

One way Pinterest figures to accomplish this is to link searchers with pins posted by people on that topic, but broken down by sub-topics. For instance, enter “plants” and one is taken to a page of pins with a toolbar specifying “outdoor,” “garden,” “decorating,” and “low maintenance.”

“Search engines are great for answering specific questions—the weather in San Francisco or the capital of Peru—but [Guided Search] can help with the questions that have more than one right answer,” maintained Head of Pinterest's Discovery Team Hui Xu in a blog published yesterday.

The company also makes a claim for improved ease of use on mobile devices for Guided Search, which offers “less typing and more tapping.”

Business Breaking News: Paying for Employee Education: Here's How to Decide

Have your employees asked you to pay for outside training so they can do their jobs better?

Before you say yes, make sure the training will end up benefiting the company, as some employees may be asking you to fund skill building that will help them land jobs elsewhere, said Peter DeVries, chief operating officer of business software provider Destiny Solutions.

DeVries said that when employees request outside training, you should ask them to write a small proposal answering the following questions:

Commodity Online News: Chana may trade 3079 3143 range support at 3091